


His Human

by CMDAK



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, M/M, Mermaid Q
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4262526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CMDAK/pseuds/CMDAK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q is a merman fascinated by the human world much to the chagrin of his brothers. James is just the human who ended up stealing his heart.</p><p>I blame a wonderful artist for this little story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Human

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this post: http://adreaminglamb.tumblr.com/post/117269450517/he-loves-his-human-so-much-and-his-human-loves
> 
> I tried to keep it short, but my muse refused to listen to me.  
> As usual, please excuse any an all mistakes and most of all, please enjoy :)

He didn’t understand why his brothers were so dead set on him getting over his fascination with humans in the same way that they didn’t understand why he hadn’t grown out of that yet. They had all been amazed by the land walkers at one point, but their interests shifted from finding out about them to keeping their world a secret from them.

Yes, humans were violent and destructive creatures, but they were also able to create many wonderful things. They had even managed to find a way to visit their world and stay in there for a long period of time without dying while they, although supposedly superior to those without tail, couldn’t stay out of the water for more than an hour without dying.

He swam dangerously close to their machines, touched them and clawed at them, but he was smart enough to make himself be seen as nothing more than a shark or a dolphin if his fins picked up the use of that one device that could give them away. And maybe he tickled the feet of those who took dips into the ocean on moonless nights, brushing their legs with his tail just to feel the texture of the thing they called skin, but he never allowed anyone to see him.

But then one of the things his brothers feared happened, and he fell for a human who he had seen grow white hair in a ship above him. They cried and raged when they heard their brother sing his love for the man, pleaded and begged to call that human to his watery grave and be done with everything.

Of course he refused to do such a thing. He loved the human even if the human did not know he was anything but a myth. He was happy just to see him swim and hear him chat, even if he never really understood what it was that he talked about with the others and he had sworn to keep him safe no matter what.

So when a huge storm came out of nowhere and tipped the ship, he tried to save the man from the deeps. But his brothers were there, all ten of them and while six grabbed on to him to keep him still, the other four dragged his human deeper in to the water until they couldn’t feel his heart beating anymore and then, just to be sure that their youngest one wouldn’t do anything stupid, they fed him to the sharks.

Enraged by their betrayal, he refused to sing in their presence anymore and banished himself in one of the many sunken cities, covering every statue he saw in purple corals. His brothers came for him and begged him to come back with them and sing again, but he slapped the eldest with his tail and hissed, baring his teeth. They were not welcomed where he was anymore and if they did not leave him be he would not hold back from attacking them.

The first time it worked because they had never thought that the light of their eyes would ever do that and they left him alone to his sadness. But when they came back a second time and they were treated in the same way, they destroyed all the statues and threatened him that if he didn’t come to his senses, they would wipe out his beloved city – which they considered a stain on their precious ocean floor anyway.

They would take something else that he held dear so soon after killing the human he loved? He questioned in shock, the pieces of his heart breaking even more when he saw the determination to do just that in their eyes. He had never thought them to be so cruel as to strike his soul again.

Well, he wasn’t going to let them use something he loved against him ever again, so he moved back and opened his mouth, singing his hatred for them and his kind as well as his sorrow, making the earth shake in pain. If anyone was going to destroy this city, then it will be him. And he sang and sang until his throat hurt and there was nothing left of the city but dust and crushed purple corals.

Now there was nothing to keep him there so he swam away while his brothers all stared in shock at what he had done. He never wanted to see them again or hear their songs beckoning him to them with fake promises of their love, so he swam for months on end until the water was different and the topside world sounded different.

The water in this zone was cold despite not being so deep and it tasted sweet. Even the fish were different and made noises he had never heard before, warily circling around him and asking him what kind of an animal he was and how was it that he was not dead if he came from the ocean as he claimed.

He made new friends and some led him to a place where they promised not many humans came and where the water was deep enough for him to hide. He even found a cave in there and his new friends where more than happy to help him decorate it with things that belonged to humans – although they questioned his sanity for wishing to have things that could easily pluck him out of the water so close to him while he slept.

Then one day he saw something that he never thought he’d ever see again: human legs softly kicking the surface of the water as they dangled on the side of a large plank. They were smaller than the ones he had seen and he wondered if he’d been away from that world for so long that they had shrunk.

His curiosity got the better of him so he swam under the plank and poked the small foot, watching with amusement as the leg suddenly disappeared. He waited and hoped that the leg would return, accidentally letting out a song of joy when he a tiny hand appeared from above.

The water instantly filled with fish because of his song, all of them rushing to brush against him because of his happiness and the human above must have gotten scared from the sudden activity because he let out a loud yell before falling through the water. He kicked his feet and waved his hands in front of him in a desperate attempt to grab hold of something, pulling back whenever he touched a fish.

He couldn’t let him drown, of course, no matter what the human tales said about his kind, so he went down after him, hissing in annoyance when tiny feet connected with his face. He let out a shrill of annoyance which sent everyone away, tightly wrapping his arms around the petite body, resting his chin on top of the blond head in an attempt to keep him still.

When they broke to the surface, the human took a few deep breaths of air before starting to scream again, grabbing on to the edge of the plank and trying to pull himself up. After three more kicks to the face that got the human two scratches on the soles of his feet, he was finally out of the water.

“Don’t be a shark!” Was the first thing that came out of his mouth, blue eyes that reminded him of the ocean that once had been his home staring at him full of fear while he gently pushed the plank the little human was on closer to the actual land.

It was funny that he’d say that, especially since sharks hated the way his kind tasted. It wasn’t their fault that humans used something that made them look like their favourite food or that, to them, all blood smelt and tasted the same. The poor dears were more or less forced to take a bite out of the moving body on the surface of the water just to be sure.

“Wait, you have hair. Sharks do not have hair,” the human squeaked out, crawling closer to the edge of the plank to touch the hair. “What are these? You’d look like me if you didn’t have these. Did they hurt when you got them?” He touched his ears and then moved to brush his gills which made him stop pushing the plank and duck back under the water.  

It didn’t hurt when his gills were touched; it just tickled and made it a tiny bit harder for him to breathe. He felt the tiny hands tug on his ear and he turned around, seeing the human staring back at him with his face all puffed up. It actually reminded him of a puffer fish that had been his friend a long time ago.

He pushed down on the human’s cheeks, laughing when bubbles came out and the head instantly disappeared. Maybe the human thought that keeping that much air in his mouth would allow him to sit under the water for a longer time?

The instant he hit dry land, the plank shook violently and when he poked his head out of the water, the little human had disappeared. He felt disappointed about that since the curiosity he had fought so much to ignore and subdue had returned ten times stronger the moment he touched the little food, but there was nothing he could do.

Actually, now he had more important things to think about such as if he should run from there before more people came and used their nets to catch him – he wanted to study them, not to be studied by them and he had a feeling that since his brothers had told them of the times when they had cut open a human to see how he worked, the humans would have nothing against doing the same thing to him.

As he pondered his uncertain future on the bottom of his home, little fish poking at him and tapping his back with their tails, worried that his mood was so low, someone started to throw things in the water.

Whatever they were, they had rocks tied to them to reach the bottom and after he made sure that there were no strings to suddenly wrap around his limbs or tail and pull him to the surface against his will, he started to collect them. They were all coloured brightly and covered in pictures of strange animals and machines that had to be made by humans, although he had never encountered them before.

A large splash made him look up and his mouth fell open when he saw the little human from before holding a rock almost as big as him, cheeks puffed. He abandoned the things in favour of the human, little hands letting go of the weight in favour of wrapping themselves around his neck.

“I wanted to thank you for saving me earlier today,” the human said after he was done coughing, wrapping his legs around the creature’s middle to be sure that it wouldn’t get away from him. “But when you didn’t come up even after thirty minutes, I thought you had gone and I wanted to be sure.” He pushed his tiny head against his and did a puckered his lips against his chin in a strange manner. “I’m James! And what’s your name?”

A song meant to scold this James instantly left his lips, demanding to know if all of his short kind was this stupid and what he would have done if he indeed had gone from there. He knew not all of his kind could swim and from what he’d seen earlier that day, James was part of that part who met certain death if he was alone in the water.

He continued to swim around with James in his arms for a few more minutes, fish coming up from their slumber to hum their disapproval at the young human and to scold him for upsetting their strange and beloved friend.

His song was interrupted when a strange liquid started to come from James’ eyes which and he ran his tongue against the little human’s cheeks to see what it was, surprised at the salty taste it had.

“I’m sorry! I promise I won’t do it again, but I just wanted to thank you.”  James suddenly said while his tiny body moved up and down on its own and he used his hand to push his head away. “And why are you licking my tears? Do mermaids like them? Because you’re a mermaid, aren’t you?” He rubbed his eyes and frowned when he looked at the chest of creature he thought to be a mermaid. “Ariel had shells. Why don’t you have shells?”

He didn’t know what an Ariel was or why James was interested in shells, but he did remember one of his brothers telling him that humans called them sirens or mermaids, although they did not have a name for themselves. Actually, they called humans that because that is the term they used when they referred to themselves.

James stopped poking the mermaid’s chest when he huffed because he realized how stupid his brothers were for considering themselves far superior to humans although they incorporated terms invented by them in their songs. And he was the child for still wishing to—oh! Oh, that was what James was! His race hadn’t shrunk, he was just young.

“Can you talk?” James asked quieter this time, yawning as he rested his head against his shoulder. “I mean, I understood what you told me just now, but it was more like a strange feeling in my heart and brain.” He pouted when the ‘mermaid’ shook his head. “Can you tell me your name with those noises?”

That he could, but there were little chances of James being able to pronounce it due to how different they were on the inside – his grip on the child tightened as a shiver travelled through him, flashes of the time one of his older brothers slashed a human right in front of him because he had made the grave mistake of asking him how it was that they made such strange sounds entering his mind.

The gentle hands that patted his head stopped him from crying out in sadness again. “It’s okay if you can’t. I can give you a book and you can use the letters to come up with a new name.” He looked so proud of his idea that the creature felt the need to sing in happiness on his behalf, summoning all sorts of creatures to celebrate with them.

James was scared by all of the sudden motion around him, hiding his face in the creature’s neck and almost ending up drowning again because he was touching the gills – he was going to have to find a way to explain to the child that touching those wasn’t the smartest thing to do.

The fish sensed their friend’s discomfort and one managed to get close enough to the once again thrashing human and smack him in the face with his tail hard enough to get him to move away from the gills. Able to concentrate again, he put James up on the plank and pulled himself up next to him, watching the show put on for them.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to eat fish after this,” James muttered, resting his head against his newest friend’s tail, only now noticing that the scales changed colours between purple and blue. “You’re better and cooler than Ariel. Prettier too.”

He decided that he liked this human, promising to do a better job at protecting him as he ran his hand through the strangely soft blond hair. He won’t let his brothers or anyone else harm him in any way and he most definitely wouldn’t drown.

“James? James! James, it is way past your bedtime and you promised that you would return twenty minutes ago!” Someone shouted, James instantly jolting to full awareness while his living pillow dived into the water to hide.

“That’s just father. I know he sounds mean, but he’s really nice and you—“His rant was cut when a webbed hand came out of the water and placed itself over his mouth, the ‘mermaid’ poking his head out of the water, glaring. He trusted this human – his human by this point, really – but not anyone else.

It was great to see those pretty blue eyes fill with understanding and he quietly slipped under the water to guide the plank to land without being seen by James’ father. He was afraid that the father might forbade his child to come out there again since, in all honestly, the child could drown if he wasn’t there, but it wasn’t the case.

James usually popped up as soon as the sun appeared in the sky with a backpack full of wonders and strange tasting foods thrown over his shoulder and a mind filled with all sort of questions. Maybe that was why he had liked the human, because James was just as curious as he was and understood his need to learn things.

But the first thing the child did was show him a book filled with similar looking drawings that he had seen in the sunken city he had destroyed. James told him the name of every letter, pointing to them as he did. He took great care to point to the ones that name up his name and show the right order, clapping his hands when his new friend followed his example even though the noises that he made sounded nothing like their actual name.

“And now you start pointing at the letters you want to make up your name and I will read them out loud of you.”

He tilted his head and traced all the letters again, running the book some more. He liked the ‘j’ because it was part of his friend and also because it kind of reminded him of his tail a bit, but one of his little fish friends got scared when he saw it and because of that, he decided not to stick with it.

Now the ‘q’ looked quite nice, like an ‘o’ with a tail which made him think of the ‘o’ as the human of the book and the ‘q’ as the mermaid. That way of thinking was surely to make his brothers laugh at him and use it to point out just how immature he still was, but he liked it. It made him happy that he found something which, to him, represented a way that he and James could coexist in the human world.

James though for a moment, wanting to explain that names had more letters in it, but his strange friend was just too happy for him to do that. “Q is a very odd name, but I think it suits you,” he said slowly, laughing a bit when the newly made Q let out sounds that sounded happy.

The two played together as much as possible, James learning how to swim from Q and Q learning more about the human world from James, but when the leaves started to turn yellow and fall from the trees, his little human friend had to go. He explained that he was going to a place named ‘school’ where they were taught different things and promised that he’ll return in the next summer and share everything with Q.

Q didn’t really understand how time passed – his kind didn’t die in the same way that humans did – but learned that the summer came after three other weather changes, one that had the trees lose their leaves, one that was so cold that still water became solid and one where everything became green again.

They spent four summers like that, each time James returning to him slightly taller and knowing more, cockier and eager to share everything with Q. He was even brining books that showed how many creatures looked on the inside, although he admitted that he didn’t really understand those.

And then one day, Q heard loud noises coming from the direction his James usually appeared from followed by something he had learned to be fire. He became agitated and stirred up a little storm to put it out, singing a song that was meant to bring his James to him. There was no possible way for him to protect his human if he was on dry land.

James appeared a little bit later, running as fast as he could with his face covered in soot and blood, jumping into the water. “You have to get out of here!” James said desperately, his slightly larger hands fisting in Q’s hair, tears running down his face. “They’ll kill you just like they killed mother and father.”

People came out of the bushes, little black things in their hands that Q had learned that they were called guns from James’ books, smelling like death. They spotted James in the middle of the water, but had yet to seen Q and they grinned, shooting in the child’s general direction.

“Why don’t you make this easier for everyone involved, young mister Bond, and just come here?” One of the men said as he moved closer to the edge of the water, a bullet passing dangerously close to James’ face. “Don’t make me waste any more—what the hell is that thing?” He shouted when Q finally pushed himself up, baring his teeth as a low hiss left his neck, ordering everyone that meant harm to his human to do so to themselves instead.

James screamed and covered his ears, wrapping his legs around Q’s middle when he felt the creature grab him. He moved his tail violently as he swam faster than he ever did in his life, his sensitive ears picking up the shouts of even more people accompanied by guns going off.

He felt a piercing pain suddenly explode in his shoulder, but he kept swimming, holding tighter to James. He called for help the creatures whose names he learned from the human he so desperately cared for, asking them to maul their pursuers if possible or just simply get in their way and buy him enough time to find a safe place where he could deposit James.

“If you let me go, you’ll be safe,” James pleaded with him and it pleased Q that the human he cared for seemed to care for him as well.

Knowing that only made him even more desperate to protect him so when he finally reached a little clearing, he threw him on dry land and crawled up next to him, putting himself in front of him just as cars came to a sudden stop and people with even bigger guns poured out of them.

He got them to open fire on each other again and little James tugged on his fins and begged for him to go back in the water and just let him die. But all he did was move his tail suddenly to smack the child in the head and keep him covered under it. He had lost too many things he liked and Q refused to let this happen again.

A louder noise was heard just as the gunfire died down and Q, panting and leaning against the ground because he had used too much of his powers and he was beyond exhausted tried to regain his defensive stance. If only his brothers where there and wished to help him, his James might live to meet him again in the next summer.

“The cops are coming, you can stop now,” James said in a hollow voice, moving from where he had been shelter. “They’re all dead anyway.” He walked up to a man to kick the side of his face, easily shrugging the webbed hands that tried to keep him away. “Just like my parents…” Tears were flowing from his eyes again and Q tried to sing a soothing song, to make him stop, but trembling hands covers his mouth. “You should go or the cops might think you’re a monster and tried to kill you.”

Q didn’t want to listen to him, but a land creature –which was a bear and if he had that little book with him, he would spell his name out only to see if James would applaud him again and hug him in joy – grabbed on to his tail and dragged him back into the river.

He tried to get back on land and move to James, but his human suddenly started throwing little rocks and cones at him. “Go! It’s your fault that they came, now that I think about it! I never want to see you! Go!”

A rock hit him right in the forehead and he hissed at James, feeling his own eyes fill with the tears he had seen the other shed, both from the pain of getting shot and rejected after he had saved the young man’s life. If his human wanted him gone that much, then in honour of their once friendship, he would humour him one last time.

Q swam back to the ocean which instantly came to life when his presence was felt. It didn’t take long for his brothers to find him and they all wrapped their arms and tails around him, healing him and trying to soothe him with their apology songs.

This time Q accepted them, too tired and sad to care and allowed them to take him deeper into the ocean and to their mother’s cave. The Mother wept when she saw his once porcelain skin maimed and the pearls that rolled down her cheeks and on his wound turned into vibrant purple scales.

She cried even more when she told him that those scales would be part of him forever, a constant reminder to him and to everyone else who sees him of how cruel and evil humans could be. And her sadness gave way to anger and she demanded to know on which piece of land the human who did this to him lives so she could wipe it out.

But he still cared for his human and because he lived on the same piece of land as the man that hurt him, he didn’t tell his mother anything. It didn’t matter that her fit she threw was so big it sunk five human ships and caused every fish to hide in the deepest cave they could find, he still didn’t tell her anything.

His brothers, in an attempt to show him that they finally accepted the fact that he loved the land walkers more than anything else in the world, saved as many humans as they could, although they made sure that they weren’t seen. They even scavenged the sunken ships and brought all sort of shiny objects and human clothes to him, trying their best to improve his bad mood.

Q glanced at the offerings, thanked his brothers and allowed them to take him to the sunken ships. But as soon as he saw a book that reminded him of James, he broke into a song of sadness and longing. He wanted his James, he wanted to go back at the foot of that mountain and hold the little human on his stomach and listen to his tales of other humans. He wanted to hear his voice, hear him try to recreate the things he said.

Years passed and Q rarely sang happy songs no matter how many interesting things he found or saw. The start of summer and its end were the worst, the songs he sang then breaking the hearts of everyone who heard them.

After a while, his brothers decided to seek the James that had captured Q’s soul, dragging the young one after them because they had no idea how the man looked like. Before they sang, they promised that they wouldn’t drown anyone, not even if they found the one that made him be so sad.

Not that Q knew what he was supposed to do if they did find his James. His human had rejected him and threw rocks at his head. What was he supposed to do? Compel him to become his friend again? Order him to move to one of the islands that humans seemed unable to see until he turned into a pile of bones?

No, none of that, his brothers said. Just see him, observe him from far away and see how he changed and decide if he really was worth your friendship and loyalty. Young humans, they explained, were quite stupid. They did one thing and mean the exact opposite. Actually, all humans were stupid like that.

***

Q had eventually given up actively searching for his human and he had learned to keep his sadness hidden from his songs for the sake of his brothers. He really couldn’t take gazing at so many humans named James and not see his among them, hating the way his heart shrunk at the thought that there might have been one person left behind after his song was finished able to kill him.

And he also could not stand how disappointed his brothers looked every time he shook his head disappointingly, feeling them wrap themselves around him and singing songs of promise that they would do better in the future.

But the faiths still held him in their favour and finally took pity on him when he was lazily circling a ship in the middle of a night. That time, it had been him who had been enticed by a strange song made by something human created and he found himself circling a large ship alongside many confused sharks.

He had just poked his head out of the water after he made sure that there were no humans around and he was patting the side of the ship, trying to get an idea of what it within its heavy metallic body when something smacked him on top of his head.

His first instinct was to dive and hide, but a single letter shouted made him stop. “Q! Q! It’s you, isn’t it? It’s not this bloody vodka, right? Wait, I’ll come down there just to be sure.” It had to be his James because no other human knew of his existence and he was also the only creature in the world that called him that – his brothers did not understand the strange noise that came from him and couldn’t reproduce it at all no matter how many times they had tried.

“Guys, going to take my midnight dip right now. Don’t come after me.” James was also the only thing dumb enough to jump into pitch black waters that were filled with confused sharks without a second thought. Q dived after the man, frowning in confusion as strong arms wrapped themselves around his neck and chapped lips pushed against his, the human’s tongue getting cut on his sharp teeth when it invaded his mouth.

He felt air leaving his lungs and when he realized that James could breathe under water like that, he let the tongue swirl around his mouth and fill it with the strange metallic taste. In all honestly, he quite liked what was happening and this time, when his gills where touched, he wasn’t feeling ticklish at all.

James kicked the water around them and moved them further from his ship, attempting to keep them out of the search light that was turned on even before he touched the water. But it still found them and when Q saw the water around them light up, he kicked James in the stomach with his tail, pushing him to the surface and he dived deeper still.

Someone else landed not far from James and Q heard his human groan. “I said not to come after me, Alec.”

Should Q grab the other set of legs and pull him under water? Was James in danger? And even if that was the case, was he supposed to do something about it? The human had thrown rocks at him and said he never wanted to see him. But at the same time, he shouted his name with so much excitement that he was sure if something was ever sang in the same manner, earth would explode.

“Yes well, with all due respect and all that bullocks, Commander Bond, you said that after finishing a bottle of vodka.”  The new human argued back, trying to get James to sit still in his arms. “Court martial me for being worried that you’ll drown your lame ass.”

“Don’t worry, he’s here and he would never let me drown.” He flinched when Q sunk his teeth in his foot. The sharks instantly moved closer when they felt the smell of blood and the new human panicked when he saw the fins. But James just laughed. “Oh, I see he brought his friends with him.”

Alec let out a string of curses in Russian when he noticed that there were at least five visible shark fins making lazy circles around them. “Yeah, well I have no idea who he is, but I really don’t think that his friends are our friends. At best, we are their chewing toys and at worst, a late night snack.”

A shark moved in close, but Q got between him and the humans, ending up getting kicked in the head. Why was it that whenever something or someone tried to harm James, he ended up getting hit in the head? At least this time it wasn’t a rock, but the kick had been strong and he was tempted to let the next shark gnaw on the offending leg.

But the sharks seemed more interested in James’ bleeding foot and because they were confused by the electrical charges coming from the ship, had a pretty hard time following Q’s instructions. All they knew that something big that sounded quite delicious was bleeding not too far away from them and they had to see what its meat tasted like.

Q was afraid that he was either going to have to reveal himself to the humans by compelling the sea creatures away or sit back and watch James and his friend get shredded. Well, because it was James, his James, he would deal with the consequences of revealing his kind after got rid of the sharks.

“Admit it, you guys wanted to let the shark have us because we snag this ship back from them without your help. Come on, help me get our shitfaced commander in his room before he starts to think that he's a merman or something,” the other man was saying as they were being pulled out of the water and Q slumped against the side of the ship in relief.

Q followed the strange ship until it entered a dock three days later, happy to catch a glimpse of James as he stepped on land. He thought his hiding place was perfect, but then the blue eyes suddenly zeroed on him and he froze.

James entire face light up and a huge smile broke on his face. He didn’t even care that some people were giving him funny looks when he started to wave at Q, desperately signalling towards a part of the harbour that he knew was relatively safe from them to meet until he saw his old friend bobbing his head.

There was a little voice in the back of Q’s head that sang a cautionary song, warning that everything might be a trap and that his friend was no longer his friend especially if he took into consideration the way they parted. But Q trusted his human so he silenced that though and went where he was supposed to go, waiting for a sign from James that everything was okay close to the surface of the water.

Of course the sign ended up being a strange, thin, black device tied to a rock that landed right in his face. He slowly rose from the water, clutching the thing, glaring and pouting. Was his human going to chuck things at his head for the rest of all time? Honestly, James could have simply wiggled his fingers in the water and that would have been more than enough.

The man stuck his feet in the water and pulled Q to lean against him, brushing his lips against the tips of his ears. “I enrolled in the British Navy in hopes of seeing you again.” His face turned red as he pulled him out of the water and on his lap. “I was cruel then, but it was only because I worried that they might take you to a lab and cut you up to see how you looked on the inside.”

A shiver ran through Q’s body when James ran his hands down his chest, softly tugging on his fins. “I’m sorry for doing that.” The man’s warm lips where on his forehead and Q’s eyes fluttered shut. “You haven’t changed a bit, but I must look horrible to you, old and decrepit as I am.” He chuckled when Q shook his head and moved touch their lips together. “I showed you something when we saw each other a few days ago, but let me make sure you learned it properly.

James was doing that strange thing with his lips and tongue again although they were not in water. He was also careful this time not to cut himself on Q’s sharp teeth and his fingers kept rubbing little circles on his gills. Strangely, Q found himself compelled without a song to close his eyes and rub his own tongue against James’.

A pleasantness that he had never felt before filled his stomach and he tried to get more of James, webbed hands pushing his face closer to his. He started to hear a song in his language that spoke of want and need and when he realized that it was coming from him, he pushed against James’ chest and fell back into the water, completely confused.

Of course James jumped into the water after him, but so did someone else and Q recognized the voice as belonging to the one who hit him in the head with his foot. “Bloody hell James, did you turn suicidal because MI6 wanted you to work from them? And how the hell do you keep cutting your mouth so badly?”

Q didn’t like the tone he was using and his teeth were so very close to his foot. But James must have somehow known his intent because one of his hands found the side of his neck and started to brush against his gills, distracting him again with a pleasure. He really needed to ask his mother or brothers about his new reactions.  

“I have a more criminal intent that a suicidal tendency right now.” James growled, whipping the blood from his mouth. ”And this is actually a love bite, much like the one from before, although I don’t think the person who keeps giving them to me is aware of that.” He broke into a smile because Q was nuzzling his hand.

Of course Alec looked at him as if he was mad, moving a bit closer to him to sniff him. “Did you drink without me? Because one: that looks like your lover might be a cannibal and two: James, I am offended your popped open a bottle without me.” He got out of the water and pulled James after him. “That or you are insane which is actually perfect for your new role as a double oh agent.”

Q felt like he was listening to one of the conversations that the first human he loved had with his companions because he couldn’t make any sense of it whatsoever. And it was quite frustrating, because James was being pulled further away from him and couldn’t explain what everything was supposed to mean.

Well, Q refused to be left behind once again in complete confusion, so he pulled himself out of the water and let out a low sound to get the two humans attention. Alec instantly turned around with a gun pointed at him – and that was just ridiculous because Q knew they wouldn’t work if they were wet since one of his brothers had gifted him with once while trying to make him feel better.

James, however, seemed to know something he didn’t because he moved to act as his shield, blocking him from his companion’s view. “Alec, put the gun down or else I’ll have to hurt you.”  

“You'll try to hurt me? Have you lost your damned mind, Bond?" Alec asked incredulously, hitting the wall next to him with his fist. "I’m trying to save you from the monstrosity! Now move out of the way before it attacks you!”

But James moved closer to him and Q leaned on him and covered his chest with his arms, head rested on his shoulder, letting out a warning growl. This was his human. He liked this human to the point that he loved him. And if Alec thought that he could hurt his human, than he had another thing coming.  

“Bloody hell, Alec, he’s Q. He’s the one who saved me when I was young,” James said slowly, moving his hands behind him to help the merman steady himself.

The gun was lowered slightly, but his finger was still on the trigger. “Are you telling me that the friend you kept talking about was actually a merman?” He lowered the gun a little bit more, entering in what appeared to be a glaring contest with the still hissing creature.    

James didn’t know what to do since Q wasn’t allowing him to push him back into the water, tightening his hold on him when he tried to move. He moved his head suddenly, his ears extending while his gills become more prominent and for a moment, the man was sure that Q would attack Alec and start tearing him apart with his teeth.

“Damn it and now I have to help you keep him a secret from M, don’t I?” Alec grumbled as he put his gun away, running a hand through his hair.  

James moved his hands up to brush the side of Q's face, trying to calm him down. "I would prefer if you did that without me having to threaten you, yes."

Alec snorted, shaking his head. "You saved my life, so I owe you one." He glanced at the creature again, sticking out his tongue when it hissed at him. "And, as long as he doesn't try to eat me, I think he might end up being quite a good addition to our little unofficial team, right?"

"Just how many of our missions do you think will take place next to open waters? And for that matter, do you really think I'll ask him to risk exposing himself or worse, get wounded because of us?" He ran his hand over Q's forehead, eyes filling with sadness and regret. "I don't want him to get a single scratch because of us."

Perhaps the biggest mistake James ever made was to let Alec explain to Q what a mission was especially since the man took it upon himself to come with visual aid in the form of an old spy movie that ended with the main character getting killed. That greatly panicked Q and he swam around the two in obvious discomfort, wrapping his arms around James' head, pulling him to his chest while trying to push Alec away with his tail.

The other man could go and get his body full of bullets as far as Q was concerned. But he refused to let his human do that. He placed his hands on the sides of his faces and rubbed their noses together, little out little inquisitive noises that were supposed to ask him if he had forgotten how terrified he had been when he was a child. Did he not remember how hard his heart was beating when that awful man pointed the gun at him?

"Q, I promise I'll be okay. I'm a big boy now; I can take care of myself, I promise." He kicked Alec in the head because he was being anything but helpful with the dying noises he was making in the background. "Stop it, you are not helping."

Alec moved closer to Q and tried to pat his head, almost getting his hand bitten. "Aw, come on. You know we'd get things done a lot faster if you let the little mermaid helped us." He dodged James kick, but still ended up with a face full of merman tail.

Q’s attention shift entirely on James after he was satisfied with the punishment the other had received, eyes filled determination. If he insisted on doing something so foolish and dangerous, then he wanted to be as close to James as possible and protect him from everything. And this time he would sit by his side even if the man threw all the rocks that existed on land at him.

"There is no possible way for me to win this argument, is there?" James asked in a defeated voice, nuzzling Q's gills. He chuckled when he felt him shake his head, wrapping his arms around him and allowing him to swim around with him on balanced on his chest, their lips locked in a deep kiss.

"Do you want me to leave you two alone?” Alec grumbled, sinking more into the water. “I can already tell that sharing a house with you two will be so much fun. At least get me someone to keep me busy while you two do your fishy business.” He should have expected the purple tail on his head.  

***

James’ original idea of sharing a flat with Alec somewhere closer to London got scrapped the moment Q re-entered his life. He now wanted to live somewhere near the ocean and have it connected to his house via a pool through which his merman could enter. He also thought of an interesting network of half pipes that Q could use to move from room to room which ended with a grant aquarium that he had set up in own room.

“Should I be worried that you’ll start to kidnap scientists to either help you grow hills or him legs?” Alec joked when he saw the house plans, hiding them behind his back when Q tried to catch a glimpse of them. “James, I think your fish boyfriend is getting ready to hypnotize me into running the surprise.”

James sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. It was going to be quite an adventure for all three of them to live in the same house when it was finally done. “I asked him nicely not to do that to you and he agreed. However, when I asked him not to bite you anymore—“A loud yell interrupted him followed by a string of cusses in Russian and English, Q wiping the blood from his mouth with a really disgusting look on.

“I will turn you into sushi, you overgrown fish!” Alec screamed, jumping into the water after him.  

The relationship between Alec and Q was interesting, to say the least. They fought, hissed, slapped and bit each other almost constantly, but if you looked carefully, you realized that was how they expressed their friendship. It became even clearer if you saw the in the field, since Q actually showed up on quite a lot of the agent’s solo missions and Alec taking it personally if any of the bad guys he was hunting down tried to hurt the merman, killing them in the most painful way he knew.  

There was also the fact that Q’s teeth where sharp enough to break through steel cables without a problem and yet Alec always had bite marks that could be easily mistaken with the kind house cats would leave. Not that Alec was any less dangerous when he really got upset, James seeing him breaking a man’s arm without breaking a sweat and he was very dangerous with knives. But when he was getting back at Q for whatever the merman had done with him, he was acting as if he was dealing with the most fragile thing in the world.

At one point, Alec somehow got it in his mind that the best way to punish Q was by singing songs from ‘The Little Mermaid’. James pointed out that he wasted his memory and time because Q couldn’t have seen the cartoon only after catching Alec singing ‘Under the sea’ on his phone.

Of course, Alec instantly decided to fix that so he 'borrowed' a boat in the middle of a night and he paddled around, throwing rocks into the water to get Q to come up.  "Come on, you overgrown fish. I know you're here. I saw the moon reflect on your purple scales just as I was getting this boat," Alec grumbled, now rowing in circles. "If you want to find out why I keep singing those songs, hop into this boat right now and I'll show you."

The merman tried to keep away, but his curiosity won and he ended up with his head in the man's lap, watching strange moving pictures that were supposed to represent him and his kind.  And Q hated the thing. As soon as it was over, he jumped back into the water and caused the boat to flip over, grabbing the device and chomping down on it, hitting Alec with his tail before he swam away.

Now Q finally understood why James asked him about shells the first time but he wasn't angry that a human child had mistaken him for a female. Nor was he really bothered that the noises the creatures who were supposed to represent the songs of his kind sounded nothing like they were supposed to.

No, he was angry and upset that he knew there wasn't any such creature like the octopus that had offered Ariel legs in the ocean. He was more than okay with giving up his voice since he could go all of his life without uttering a single word to James and they would still understand each other and if he needed a touch lips to stay on land forever, than James had already done that twice already so there was clearly no problem there.

James instantly picked up that Q was saddened by something and when he turned to look at Alec, the agent was already holding his hands up in the air in a defensive manner. "Hey, I just wanted to annoy him with the songs from the movie, not upset him for real! And I tried apologizing to him for it, but he just keeps tipping my boat and hitting me in the head with his bloody tail whenever I call him."

"If you don’t fix this, I will drown you,” James warned him after he realized that no matter how close he held the merman or how many kisses he gave him, his mood did not get any better. “He never hurt you seriously and even put himself in danger to save you out of his own free will. Why did you have to go so far?”

Was there really a way to fix everything? Alec realized what had gotten him so upset the moment he saw Q looking sadly at his feet and then at his own tail. Maybe he should crack his skull open against a rock and see if he still owned a brain because even the dumbest person on earth would have been able to see this horrible outcome.

Well, if the first movie got him into this mess, than the second one was bound to get him out – and when James asked why he knew there was a sequel or what happened in it, Alec turned white and shook a bit, whispering that Miss Moneypenny punished him with it for accidentally blowing up her car.

The house was almost complete, only needing a few touch-ups in the rooms that weren’t all that important and after watching Q swim around it and then hearing him sing in joy for the first time in weeks when he saw how his ‘room’ looked like and that he was actually sharing it with James, Alec said that he had something to show him.

Q was resting his head in James’ lap, enjoying so much the way his human was playing with his hair that he was almost fully asleep. James, on the other hand was quite apprehensive about the whole thing.

“Relax and trust me. This is going to make him forget all about wanting legs,” Alec said as he started the move, patting his friend’s leg before briefly caressing Q’s hair.

James instantly turned to look at Q, brushing his tail. “Wait, what? He wants—“He was shushed by Q, webbed hands covering his mouth.

The movie was horrible. James sighed every five minutes, constantly checking to see how much of the movie was left and Alec had started to clean his guns, ignoring everything that was on the screen. But none of them would have complained if the movie would have done what Alec thought it would and fully chase Q’s sadness away. Which it didn’t.

When the movie ended, the merman hit the TV with his tail, turned to hiss at them and then disappeared into the ocean, ignoring their desperate calls for him. He let out a little sound of distress which had his brothers around him instantly, all of them asking if he had been hurt again and if they should retaliate against the two men.

Q ignored those questions them and asked if they could take him to the oldest of their kind, wanting to ask something important. He wanted to know if what he had seen was possible, if he could give up being what he was for James’ sake and to his surprise, they agreed without putting much of a fight.

They swam until the water was so cold that it was frozen on top, taking him deep into the bottom of a cave made out of ice. When they broke to the surface in the cold place, they were greeted by the sight of a huge merman, the fins of his alabaster tail hidden in the water as he sat slumped in a chair made out of different bones, bonny hands playing in the long, white beard.

“You are here because you want to give up your tail in favour of a pair of legs, right?” It asked in a whisper, body convulsing with laughter when he saw how Q looked at him with wide eyes, his brothers diving back down to hide. “Oh don’t be so surprised by the fact that I can speak like them. The humans would say that I am as old as dirt, so of course that I would know a lot of tricks. And speaking like them is much easier for me than singing our language.” He tilted his head and his neck bones cracked the cringe worthy sound that made echoing through the ice cave. “That is why you’re here in the first place: because of my knowledge. My kin doesn’t visit me otherwise.”

Q felt bad when he heard that and swam up to him, wrapping his arms around him and brushing his lips against the wrinkled face like James did to him whenever he wanted to apologize for something.

The creature chuckled, patting his head. “Do not worry child. I would not have the patience required to put up with most of them. I do so hate hearing the songs they let out to praise themselves and belittle every other creature that exists on this planet. Now tell me, why do you wish to become a human? Who stole your soul?”

Q instantly broke out into song, describing his James and how wonderful he was, the house he had built for him and the many dangers they had gone through together. His song became a bit angry when he started to talk about Alec, painting a picture of a man full of himself, with a small brain but a big heart.

He then sang of the movies he saw, a broken and pathetic sound escaping his lips as he explained that he was jealous of that strange human depiction of a mermaid because she got to live with her human. What would it take for him to do the same? His voice? He could have it with his blessing as far as he was concerned. He could learn how to use the humans’ letters and talk with his human like that.

Or maybe the ancient one wanted his collections to brighten up his cave? Or maybe his breath taking cities? If that was the case, then as of that moment, Q gave up on all of them even if they technically belonged to the ocean. Or maybe he wanted his purple scales because he thought his tail was too dull in colour? It would hurt, but he’ll rip each one of them if he had to. Just let him stay with James.

His song was becoming more desperate and lost all of its harmony, causing a few thin cracks to appear in the walls that surrounded them so the old merman touched his neck, silently asking him to stop. “The story you told me had a different ending, young one. She died of a broken heart and even the storyteller found it too sad, so he changed the ending.”

Q shook his head and hit the water with his tail. He didn’t care how the story was supposed to go; he wanted to know if the ancient one could help him live with his human. He trusted his James and knew beyond a doubt that if he was supposed to do something to prove that he also cared for him, he had no doubt that James would.

The ancient merman found Q's devotion to his human and blind love both amusing and worrisome. But he did not have the energy required to try to argue the opposite of what he was saying or ask why the human wasn't standing in the freezing water right next to Q if he loved him as much. "I cannot do what you ask of me." He covered his ears when Q let out a sharp shrill of pain. "Because it is not up to me to do so! You all have the power to give up your immortality for a human and bring him back to this world or, in your case, give it up in order to become one."

The song stopped abruptly and Q was almost in the other merman's lip, tugging on his long beard to get him to say more. Did he mean that he could have walked alongside James since he was a child? He could have gone to school with him and everything? Why didn't his brothers tell him that?

"Slow down, young one. I am trying to remember how to explain the whole process in our own language because there are no human words or languages for it." He patted Q's head when he stilled and closed his eyes, a low rumble coming out from him.

The song was long and it exhausted the ancient one mostly because he was also trying to counter the words and not suddenly sprout legs, but it fascinated Q beyond all belief. He had never heard such sounds from any of his kin, but he understood why. He left the cave singing his thanks and love for what he had done for him, promising to come back when he had legs and introduce James to him.

He swam so fast that his brothers couldn't keep up with him, but they heard how happy he was so their worry was subdued a bit. They had to tell their mother that she was about to lose her youngest one to the world of the land walkers and convince her not to destroy the piece of land before Q actually got to the deed.

But Q was so lost in his joy that he didn't see or feel the small submarines that had started to follow him and when he realized that something was wrong, it was too late. He slammed right into a metal net coated in a substance that instantly paralyzed him and kept him in place as it closed around him.

He was pulled out of the water and dumped in a small tank on the deck of a large ship, a horrible looking man with an eye patch tapping on the glass, laughing. Q couldn't make out what he was saying, the unusual sweet taste of the water making it hard for him to keep his eyes open.

The next time he woke up, he was in a larger tank that only had one window through which he was being watched by lots of strange humans all dressed the same. The tank was bare and also covered and the glass was strong, not cracking even after he slammed it repeatedly with his tail nor after he let out the highest shrill he could.

"If you don't stop that, we'll have to put you back to sleep," a disgusting voice came from somewhere above him. "And we'd rather not do that just yet, little treasure. And don't bother trying to sing one of those intoxicating songs of yours," the voice continued when Q glued himself to the piece of the tank from which it came. "You can hear us, but we can't hear you."

The merman struggled more when he heard that and managed to throw himself against the glass three times before he was thrown back into the world of dreams. The next time he woke up, he was sitting on a table, hands and tail strapped tightly to it to the point of drawing blood, something stuck in his mouth that kept him from many any noise other than pathetic whines.

The men poked his sides and filled little vials with his blood, amazed at the strange colour it had, plucked scales from his tail and stuck him under a large lamp, away from water. They wrote down on the tablets how his tail was starting to lose its purple colour, giving way to a sickly yellow, his hair slowly turning white and his skin cracking.

When he started to cry, they collected the pearls that rolled out of his eyes in little tubes, running out of the room and returning with a clear intention of making him cry harder. He had reached the point where he was trying to beg them to kill him, his skin now making little noises and hurting him when it cracked.

They finally took pity on him and threw him back in the tank, trying to get him to eat some kind of meat that smelled horrible and gave him really bad vibes, but he refused to do so. When they threw a man that was bleeding in the same tank with him, he realized that they thought he ate people.

They started clapping when he saw him rush to him, moving closer to the window, expecting to see him start tearing the man apart. But he was trying to save him and gave him air until the man bleed out.

"What do you eat?" The voice came again as the body was fished out of the water by people with their ears covered.  "And don't be dumb enough to try to jump out of there. You'll find out how it feels to have electricity travel through you if you do." Someone stuck a stick in the water and touched his skin, a cold pain he had never felt before engulfing him.

Q curled into a little ball in a corner of the tank, covering his ears and refusing to acknowledge the voice. They dumped dead and live fish in the tank and then other meats and soon they were filling it with kelp and other things that grew on land. He, of course, refused to eat anything, hoping that he would either starve himself to death, annoy whoever was talking to him into killing him quickly or be saved by James.

But the men wouldn't allow him to die and after they put him on a scale and took some of his blood out, the strapped him on a table that was under a man-made waterfall and stuck things in his arms which Q realized were keeping him alive.

When he was put back in the tank, he started to munch on the kelp they gave him only because he never wanted to sit on that table again, having more of his scales pulled off while they scratched his chest to see how fast he healed, asking him all sorts of questions and forcing his mouth open to shove thin tubes that tasted horrible and made him heave down his throat.

Then one day, when he woke up, it was just the man with the missing eye staring at him, hands tucked behind his back, an eerie smile on his face. "You'll be happy to know that today we'll be done with you." He started to pace back and forth the tank, tapping the glass. "Well, actually, you won't really be happy since we're going to have to cut you up."

The tank shook and the man suddenly turned around, yelling at someone to go take care of the problems, Q's heart starting to beat faster because that was what usually happened when Alec and James entered somewhere. He swam around the tank, clapping his hands and hitting the glass with his tail, sticking his tongue out and trying to show the shocked man what Alec usually showed someone when he was annoyed, heart leaping out of his chest when he saw his human enter the room.

Q watched with great pleasure as the man tried to dodge the bullets from James' gun, grinning when he saw him slide down against the tank's window, leaving behind a trail of blood. He wished he could have inflicted pain on the man himself and James also looked like he was upset he didn't get to torture him before ending his life.

But then he caught Q's eyes and he forgot everything, placing his hands over the glass as Q did the same, both of them staring at each other and smiling. He loved his human and his human loved him too and nothing else matter for Q in that second.

He forgot all about the pain he went through since the moment the humans caught him and he loved the world once again. When James rested his nose against the panel, Q did the same, clawing at his glass cage to try to touch his human.

"Alec is coming to get you," Q heard James' voice enter his silent world and he did a little circle in the water to show his happiness. "He was so worried about you, you know. He promised that he'll never pick movies and that he'll eat the DVD right in front of you." He moved his hand alongside the panel, as if he was caressing Q's face and the merman rubbed his head against it, eyes closed so he could imagine the human's soft and warm skin against his cold one.

Light shone on him and he looked up to see Alec waving at him, the man jumping into the water to give him a tight hug. He opened his mouth to say something and that was when he remembered that he, unlike Q, needed air to breathe.

James tapped on the glass to get their attention before resting his hand on the side of the tank, turning the speakers back on. "Alec, stop fooling around and get Q out of there. The area still isn't secured."

Alec flipped him off before patting Q's head and kicking the water under him to lift himself, the merman turning around to look at James' blue eyes which he had dreamt of every time he managed to fall asleep before following the other man out of his watery prison.

But instead of seeing warmness in them, he saw pain and shock, the man sliding down the glass and leaving behind a trail of blood. The whole world stopped for Q in that moment, remember how helpless he had been when his brothers had killed the sailor a long time ago. No, he refused to believe that the smeared red was James' blood because he had promised that things would be different this time.

He slammed his body as hard as he could against the glass, screeching so loud that he spat blood. The window gave, flooding the room. Large shards to pierced his skin, but he couldn't feel that pain at all, his song of anger and revenge echoing through the room and making everyone drop their guns so they could cover their ears.

How dare they shoot his James? How dare they make him break his promise? How dare they hurt HIS human? He smacked people left and right with his tail, ignoring the bullets that entered his body and lunging at them, ripping their throats with his teeth and hands.

He almost attacked Alec when the man wrapped his arms around him to get him to stop, yelling that everyone was dead and that it was safe. The only reason why he didn't do that was because when he turned around with the intent of biting the human's hands off and hitting him with them until his neck cracked was because he caught a glimpse of James' body.

He let out a whine and shrugged Alec off of him, crawling to James and pulling him into his lap, rubbing their noses together. He brought their lips together once and then again, refusing to believe that his heart wasn't beating anymore.

"Q, I'm sorry, but he's dead," Alec said softly, hands on his shoulders. "We have to get you out of here before the MI6 backup arrives. They won’t treat you as badly as these people did, but I don’t want anyone to hold you against their will and neither did James." He tried to pick the merman up in his arms, but he was slammed into a wall with a force he hadn't thought possible for the creature to have, Q letting out a low hiss.

Why was Alec acting like this? How could he say that his human was dead so easily and then try to get them to leave? Weren't they friends? Weren't they supposed to be close? He'd seen the man be more upset over a broken bottle than over the fact that James, the man he claimed he'd lie his life down, had been wounded – because Q refused to even think of the concept of his beloved human no longer being alive.

"I know you're upset and I promise that my heart is also breaking, but James would want you safe." He grabbed his shoulder and shook him roughly, yelling in his ear. "Do you understand what I am telling you, you overgrown fish? I have to take you to safety for his sake!" Q found himself against Alec's chest, shaky hands making small circles on his back. "Well both drink and cry for him when we're home, okay? But please, let me get you out of here."

The merman started to shake his head, pushing himself out of Alec's arms and threw himself over James' lifeless body, hiding his face in the man's chest. Everything hurt so badly; his wounds, his throat, but his chest hurt the most. If only he could scratch his heart out and give it to James...

Q suddenly sat up straight, eyes wide. The ancient one had said he could give up his immortality for a human. So he could do just that, scratch his heart out and give it to James. Yes, he would die and yes, technically speaking he wouldn't be walking with him on dry land, but he would be with him everywhere he went.

The merman gathered what little strength he had, resting his hands over James' cold chest, and he started to sing. Q felt how his life-force bled out of him and into the human, his heart starting to beat slower and slower with each note that passed his lips. The world was spinning fast around him and his tail hurt like it was being stabbed with a thousand knives as it started to lose its colour.

He slumped over James' body when he was done, finding it nearly impossible to get air in his lungs and felt his mouth filling with that coppery taste he usually tasted when his human cut himself on his teeth, but he smiled. He could hear a week heartbeat and felt the body slowly starting to become warm as his human was coming back to life.

James started coughing, pushing himself up suddenly, screaming in pain. Alec rushed to his side, patting him and pushing his fingers through the holes in his clothes, amazed that he felt perfectly soft, smooth skin. But James knew that something was wrong the second his hand brushed against something cold and when he looked down and saw green eyes that were rapidly losing their fire, he screamed again.

"Q? No, no, Q, come on!" He pulled him in his arms and cradled him against his chest, trying to get the bleeding to stop. "No, love, come on! I came here for you! I came to save you." His voice was broken, shaking as tears fell from his eyes. "Alec! Alec, why did you let him do this? We were supposed to save him!"

When he felt a webbed, cold hand brush against his face, he turned his attention back to Q, bringing his hands up to move the hand to his lips so he could kiss it. Q smiled at him and tried to show him that he was happy with a song, but the blood coming out of his mouth didn't let him do that. He realized that he was drowning and he decided that it was a very horrible feeling and a most unpleasant way to die. At least James was holding him.

When the tail turned completely white and the eyes completely black, James lost it. He grabbed a gun and emptied in someone who twitched, cursing. He kept pulling the trigger even after it no longer had bullets and when he saw with the corner of his eye that someone was touching his Q's body, he threw the empty weapon at him.

"Enough!" Alec shouted, not bothering to dodge the weapon. "Act like a bloody double oh agent and let’s get his body out of here before our own MI6 decided to cut him up." He closed his eyes and rested his cheek against Q's forehead, taking a deep, shaky breath. "Or do you want to see him on display in a museum somewhere?"

James let out a strangled noise, trying to piece himself back. "I'll carry him and you provide cover because we both know I'm not going to be able to do anything right." His entire body shook when Alec placed Q in his arms, and his kissed his forehead, nuzzling his hair.

Alec did quick work of the people who had been dumb enough to still try to get in their way and when he heard other MI6 agents near, he kept them busy while James slipped out of the building. The agent almost got caught twice, but he managed to sneak around the other people who were busy checking to see if anyone was left alive as well as collect all possible date to see just what they were up to.

“We’re going to make sure that every bit of data is lost before it gets to our Quartermaster, so do not worry about anyone going after your family, Q,” James whispered in his ear, planting a small kiss on it before carefully lowering him a speedboat. “We finished the house while you were gone and Alec even managed to find someone to make us a couch that’s water resistant or something.”

For a moment, when he turned his head, he had thought that he was going to see Q staring back at him with his head titled as he usually did when he was couldn’t quite understand what James was talking about. But of course he wasn’t. He was just sitting in the same position James had put him in, skin slowly starting to crack.

“I think I you need some water, love.” His breathing was erratic because he was trying – and failing – to keep himself for crying. “It can’t be too healthy for you to stay out of it for this long, right?”

When he stopped the boat in the middle of the ocean, he had convinced himself that it would indeed fix everything. Q would magically come back to life and scold him for being stupid enough to turn his back to a room before making sure that it was clear. Or maybe for taking too long to come to his rescue.

But the second a part of Q’s tail touched the water, it turned into foam and James quickly pulled his body back into the boat and cradled to his chest, crying and apologizing for moving too slow, for forgetting his training, for letting Alec show him that bloody cartoon.

“I have to fix you Q, I love you.”

He started to hear sad songs of permanent goodbye and when he saw webbed hands grab the side of the boat, he shook his head and tried to hide Q from them. He wasn’t going to let anyone his love from him unless they could fix him and it didn’t sound like they could. So they could all bugger off and leave him alone to mourn him.

“You had his soul, you have his heart. Let us have his body back,” one of Q’s brothers was singing, hands extended in front of him.

“I will shoot you if you do not get off this boat right now!” James shouted, hitting another merman in the chest with his head when it got to close to Q. “He’s mine! He waited for me to come and save him and love him.” He touched his heart that was beating so unusually, drowning in the intense emotions he was feeling. “And I know he loved me. So much that he wanted to…For me…”

It hurt too much to even finish and he just put his head on Q’s chest, pulling his hand over his face. Nobody should be there to see how much it hurt him, to see that he could cry. And the songs made everything worse, the brothers begging to be let to take the youngest one’s body back into the ocean without having to hurt the human that he loved and died for.

Did he not deserve to receive the proper treatment for saving his life? Did the human plan on dragging his lifeless body to his house and keep it there until it turned to dust? Did their mother not suffer enough because she had lost her youngest? The human wasn’t the only creature that loved him. Everyone in the ocean did, could he not see that? Could he not hear the broken sounds every being made?

“I understand and I’ll give him back to you,” James snapped, almost hissing at them in the same way that Q had done at him and Alec. “Just give me a few minutes so I can say my own goodbyes, okay?”

Once the mermen did as they were asked, James kneeled next to Q and gently picked up his hand, kissing his knuckles softly. The skin had hardened, the web that connected each finger turning into dust at his touch. He ran his hand through his hair, kissed his lips once last time and closed his eyes as he muttered apologizes mixed with promises to meet with him again in their next life if such a thing really existed.

The eldest merman helped James get Q’s body into the water, even awkwardly patting his back as everyone watched the body turning into foam and disappear. They all tilted their heads back and let out a sharp cry, James screaming his pain alongside them. And then they were all gone and he was left alone in the middle of the ocean, thunder cracking in the distance, sky suddenly dark.

He didn’t go home directly, drifting like a ghost from one city to another, hidden from MI6’s and Alec’s eyes. He had an account stocked full of money that no one knew about just for cases like this when he didn’t want to face reality, although he had hoped he would never get to use it.

People didn’t ask who you where or why you were so beaten up when you flashed enough money, hotel owner writing you down as ‘John Smith’ in their books while doctors from private clinics happily patching you up while that they were practicing everything on a dummy.

But reality could be avoided only for so long and he kept feeling as if he was watched and judged by countless creatures every time he passed by a place with open waters, hearing strange noises and voices who seemed to accuse him of trying to kill Q a second time, making a mockery of the merman’s sacrifice by drinking nonstop and picking fights everywhere he went.

That was what got him to go home, finally contacting a frantic Alec who thought he would never see the man again and asking him to pick him up.

The first thing he did when he finally reached home was puke and then he tried to destroy the aquarium he had built for Q in his room. Alec tried to physically restrain him, punching him a few times, only to end up one the other side of the door, his pleas for James to use his common sense completely ignored.

James hit the glass over and over again, shouting in frustration when the bloody thing would break. He slid down against it, slamming the back of his head against it and giving up. Of course he had to buy the best he could for Q, worried that the merman might get caught up in his excitement over something and hurt himself if he caused the glass to break with his tail.

“We can switch rooms for the night or go to a hotel!” Alec was still shouting from behind the door, worry clear in his voice. “Bond, open the bloody door already! Q would be very disappointed in you right—”    

The door was pulled open and a fist connected with the side of his face, breaking his lip. “If you ever utter that name with the intention of controlling me or making me do something I don’t want, MI6 will need a new double oh agent.”

Alec wiped the blood from his mouth and returned the fist, a little fight breaking out between the two. They weren’t actively trying to kill each other, but this seemed like the best way they could get rid of the tension between them and half an hour later, they were both sitting on the sofa in the living room, cotton stuffed up their noses while eating takeaway.

“So, what do you want to do with this place?” Alec asked with his mouth full.

James narrowed his eyes. “I’m not selling this place, if that is what you’re thinking. We’re not living in it because it was for us and Q, but I am not selling it either because no one deserves to live in it.”

Alec patted his knee, picking up the remote and turning on the TV. He was happy that they were going to move, himself having had a breakdown on a much smaller scale when compared to James’ when he had returned to the house and realized that he and Q would never hiss at each other again.

The whole thing ended with him pissed drunk in the middle of the pool after trashing half of the house, singing songs from the little mermaid completely off key with bouts of demented laughter between them, lots of curious pairs of eyes staring at him from beyond the gate that connected the house with the ocean.

He got startled when James suddenly grabbed the remote control and threw it at the TV screen, realizing that he was actually hearing a song from the damned cartoon and not just imagining it.

James jumped up from the sofa and ripped the screen out of the wall, throwing it around the rooms a few times before finally picking it up, walking outside and tossing it into the ocean, narrowly avoiding hitting one of Q’s brothers.

“What the hell are you doing here? Did I manage to get a bit of Q on me and you’re here to take that from me as well?” He demanded, surprised when the creature started to throw things at his head.

The creature disappeared as fast as it had appeared and when James started to pick up the things he had been attacked it, he realized that they were the toys he had given Q at Skyfall and his heart started to hurt again. He curled up with them tightly clutched at his chest, Alec walking outside and draping a blanket over him before wrapping his arms around him, head resting against his back.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are love <3 
> 
> And make sure to show your love to the lovley adreaminglamb :)


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